i was probably not going to actually make it to tchaikovsky's fifth, as they scheduled it pretty deep out in the suburbs. that's a shame, as this is truly a pretty raucous piece.

according to wiki, this piece was literally playing during the start of the siege of leningrad and gave solace to the russians as they found themselves in a truly existential and increasingly dire crisis. the russians are in a perpetual existential crisis, really. maybe that's why they've given us the tolstoy's and the dostoevsky's. but, did tchaikovsky's fifth provide the russians with the inspiration required to regroup and defeat the nazis? it's probably more the thing of legend than the thing of fact, and maybe more of a twist on the 1812 overture, but if you're going to build a legend up around a piece of this nature, i couldn't imagine a better thing to build it up around. i'm sure there have been plenty of films made about the siege of leningrad, and this should be the soundtrack for at least one of them. perhaps that is even the source of the legend?

but, separating fact from fiction, and the music from any contrived notions about it, you get a piece that has enough energy to keep me engaged, even if it kind of drags a little in the down points. i keep wanting to criticize it for slowing down, but then it picks back up.

which isn't to deny the thing of it's dynamics - the last thing i saw at the dso was beethoven's fifth piano concerto, which is all about the dynamics, and which i enjoyed because of it. but, when this piece slows down, it loses focus. i think what i want to say is that i wish the slower sections were a little deeper, a little more intense, or a little more something, rather than just kind of being rather forgettable connecting passages to allow for the development of the faster moving parts. but, i might be missing the context of some inherently russian cultural thing; i might just not understand russian peasant music, or something. it's plausible. whatever the truth of it, i don't find these sections compelling, i just find myself waiting patiently for it to pick back up again.

when it does pick up, it picks up, though, and that's the draw of the piece, from my perspective.

it doesn't matter much. it's canceled. next time, maybe - if they schedule it somewhere downtown.